The Government of Assam has taken a landmark decision regarding the usage of disposable plastic water bottles across the state. The state cabinet has decided to ban the use of such disposable plastic water bottles in the state. This step is expected to curb the amount of non-biodegradable plastic waste in the state.
Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma made this announcement on Friday. He said that such bottles containing less than one litre of water will be banned on 2nd October 2023. And that those having a capability of less than 2 litres will be banned on 2nd October 2024. This decision was announced by the chief minister after a cabinet meeting in the state on Friday.
He said that the state will ensure strict implementation of the ban on single-use plastic. This will be done by implementing the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021. The government is also providing a transition period of 3 months for bottles with less than 1-litre capacity. And fifteen months time for bottles with less than 2 litres capacity.
Several states had replaced disposable plastic water bottles with reusable glass ones for official events in the past. The state of Sikkim was the first to impose a blanket ban on these bottles. Since the beginning of 2022, the state had banned the production, sale and usage of such bottles. As these contribute a lot to environmental pollution and harm the ecology as a whole.
This ban will encourage people to migrate towards the usage of reusable bottles made of environment-friendly materials. This step will also help in the reduction of urban flooding in the cities. It however remains to see if this ban is implemented till grassroots levers. Or if it ends up just like the ban on the use of single-use plastic packets in the state.
